Hub for locks



(ModeL) J. W. LIEB.

Hubs for Locks.

No. 234,302. Patented Nov. 9,1880.

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TINITED STATES PATENT Farce.

JOHN W. LIEB, OF NEWARK, NEW JERSEY.

HUB FOR LOCKS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 234,302, dated November 9, 1880,

Application filed March 9, 1880.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that 1, JOHN W. LIEB, of Newark, in the county of Essex and State of New Jersey, have invented certain Improvements in Locks, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to the rotary hubs or barrels which are provided with an opening in which the key is seated and sustained when in action, and particularly to that class of barrels which are adapted to receive flat keys and the invention consists in the peculiar manner of constructing the same of sheet metal, as hereinafter described.

In constructing the class of hubs or barrels above named it is necessary to provide them with a flat central slot in which the key will be closely embraced, and also with end hubs or trunnions adapted to sustain the hub in place in the lock and close the pivot-hole or seat in the lock-plate in order to prevent the entrance of dirt, &c.

I produce a hub answering the above requirements by cutting from sheet metal a blank with lips at its ends, and folding or doubling the blank through the middle, the lips being bent and shaped to enter the pivothole in the lock. In some cases a supplemental plate is secured to the end of the hub.

My improved method of manufacture consists in first punching or cutting from sheet metal a blank of suitable form, and then bending and forming the same to produce the slit and the journals or bearings. The blank is folded or doubled at the middle to produce the key seat or space, and the ends turned outward to form the journals.

In some instances it may be desirable to attach a plate or plates to the ends of the hub by soldering, riveting, or otherwise securing the same thereon; but in ordinary cases the entire device is made complete in one piece.

Figure 1 represents the blank from which my hub or barrel is formed. Figs. 2 and 3 represent the blank in different stages of its transformation into a hub. Fig. 4 represents the finished hub. Fig. 5 is a sectional view, showing the hub in position in a lock. Figs.

(Model.)

6 and 7 are views showing two modifications of the hub.

In constructing my hub, I first punch from sheet metal, by suitable dies, such as are well known in the art, a blank. A, of the form represented in Fig. 1, with the projections a at its ends. This blank I fold or double through the middle into the form shown in Fig. 2, bringing the two sides or halves parallel with each other, and leaving between them a narrow flat slit or space, I), to receive the key and serve as an equivalent for the ordinary key-hole. I next turn the ends a outward away from the slit b at right angles to the body and round them on the edges, as shown at a in Figs. 3 and 4, so that the two ends or lips a at each end of the hub form jointly a round journal or neck to bear in the lockplate or escutcheon-plate. and sustain the hub.

It will be noticed that the body of the hub extends beyond the edges of the ends or lips a, thereby forming shoulders c, which are intended to bear against the inner faces of the lock-plates in order to prevent the hub from playing or escaping endwise.

It is preferred to round the ends or lips a after bending them down, as described and shown; but the blank may be formed with rounded ends in the first instance, as indicated by the dotted lines in Fig. 1.

In special cases it may be desirable to ap ply to the ends of the hub or to one end a plate or plates, d, as represented in Figs. 6 and 7. These plates may take the place of or be used in addition to the end lips, a, and may be soldered, riveted, or otherwise secured in place.

By my method of construction I am enabled to produce hubs which are lighter and much cheaper than those constructed in the usual manner.

I am aware that rotary hubs provided with key slots or openings have been made from solid blocks of metal, and also that a barrel intended to receive an ordinary roundbarreled key has been made of sheet metal, the ends of the barrel being made of cylindrical form to admit the key and fill the pivot-hole,

and I lay no claim to either of said devices; end or ends the semicircular lips a, as debut, scribed. [0

Having thus described my invention, what 2. The sheet-metal hub or barrel having the I claim iskey seat or opening and the semicircular end 5 1. The barrel or hub for locks having flat lips, as shown.

keys, consisting of the single piece of sheet Witnesses: JOHN W. LIEB. metal folded in such manner as to produce JAS. A. BRUEM, the flat central key-seat, and having at the A. C. FRANKEL. 

